Review: ‘Reincarnated’

Lazily charting the unlikely transformation of rapper Snoop Dogg into reggae artist Snoop Lion, "Reincarnated" surely sets a new record for the amount of weed smoked oncamera in a documentary, but its other achievements appear hazy at best.

Lazily charting the unlikely transformation of rapper Snoop Dogg into reggae artist Snoop Lion, “Reincarnated” surely sets a new record for the amount of weed smoked oncamera in a documentary, but its other achievements appear hazy at best. Playing as an extended promo reel for Snoop’s forthcoming LP, the pic, poorly shot in Jamaica, fails to make a case for the musician’s new identity in anything but commercial terms, even though the subject himself takes pains to assert that, having recently turned 40, he has matured past the crude glorification of pimping and such. Snoop lovers will be skeptical.

Whether to hide the new material’s banality or preserve its surprise until the album drops, lyrical content is kept mostly under a smokescreen so that only an ode to fruit juice registers as progress for a man who once insisted on adding gin to the glass. Proffering peace and love in between countless bake sessions, Snoop is eventually named Berhane, meaning light, in a Rastafarian ceremony. The pic ends just shy of showing Snoop deliver his new songs onstage, leaving fans no choice but to chill until the next episode.